[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2013.12.27 ~ 2013.12.29

The Korean box office has ended its record-breaking year on a massive high as Yang Woo-seok's "The Attorney" and Won Sin-yeon's "The Suspect" dominated the final weekend. This year's remarkable ticket sales indicate that Koreans are some of the most active filmgoers in the world, with an average of 4.1 trips in 2013 (the U.S. sits on 4.3). Support for local flicks has, indeed, been incredible this year, and the encouragement continued right up until the very end as "The Attorney" and "The Suspect" closed proceedings for the home team in emphatic style.

Yang Woo-seok's "The Attorney" was released on the 19th where it opened its account with a hefty haul of 1.3M admissions; the highest since "The Face Reader" back in September. The local drama packed on an additional 1.5M (45%) this past weekend to volt Yang's drama to 4.8M admissions ($33.6M); a phenomenal performance that makes it the ninth most popular local flick of the year, and marks actor Song Kang-ho's third titanic success of 2013. Its recent success means it has shoved past Park Hoon-jung's "The New World" (4.6M), and now has Jo Eu-seok's "Cold Eyes" (5.5M) clearly in its sights. Its star, the devastatingly popular Song Kang-ho, now has three blockbusters in this year's top ten: the dynastic "The Face Reader" (9.1M) and the French-inspired adaptation "Snowpiercer" (9.3M).

Won Sin-yeon's "The Suspect" auspiciously entered proceedings last week ahead of its official release, and has come true here with 801,237 (23.9%) seasonal stubs. This, Won's fourth feature, is also actor Gong Yoo's first action outing as he takes the role of an estranged North Korean agent seeking answers in the South. Gong is accompanied onscreen by Park Hee-soon ("Gabi", "The Scent"), Jo Sung-ha ("Commitment", "A Millionaire on the Run"), and Yoo Da-in ("Iron Dae-oh: The Nation's Iron Bag!") in some thrilling espionage action. Richard Curtis's romantic comedy "About Time", starring Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams, took bronze with 258,617 (8%). "About Time" took first place at the beginning of the month when it was released, and has thus far amassed 2.7M admissions ($18.9M). In fourth place came the computer-animation "The House of Magic" with 181,505 (5%), followed closely by Jackson's "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" on 165,807 (5.4%). Mr. Baggins and his adventurers claimed less stubs than the animated newbie, but its 3D gloriousness has a premium price attached and so its coffers where a little more stuffed. Peter Jackson's second instalment of "The Hobbit" trilogy has scored $15.2M in Korea so far; not terribly impressive, but the local hits have really come out firing and soaked up the crowd's cash. In fact, the only foreign flick to crack Korea's overall top ten was "Iron Man 3" with its 9 million admissions.

Bang Eun-jin's drama "Way Back Home", which was released on the eleventh, took sixth (122,260 – 2.6%) over the weekend to advance its total tally to 1.7M admissions ($11.4M). This is the actress/director's fourth, and most profitable, feature; her previous efforts include "Suspect X" (2012), "If You Were Me 4" (2008), and "Princess Aurora" (2005). Her dramatic love tale was stalked by the prehistoric presentation "Walking with Dinosaurs 3D" (97,531 – 3.2%) and Lee Hyeon-jong's "Catch Me" (46,195 – 1.2%). Lee's racy romance entered the chart last week with 210,784 (a haul good enough for sixth), but suppressed here down to eighth. "Catch Me" is Lee's debut film and stars Kim Ah-joong and Joo Won; but the hot duo have thus far failed to steam the screen, attracting just 467,850 ($3M) cold Koreans thus far. Sony Picture's "Planes" (193,130) and the sci-fi flick "Ender's Game" (32,033) rounded out the list, bringing a close to the final weekend of a landmark year for Korea's film industry.

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